Bloody trams

The mess Edinburgh is in because of the buggering tram works continues to get worse - streets ripped up, constant roadworks, diversions, lengthy delays for weeks and months, bus timetables all over the place because of the delays, totally messed up pavements and pedestrian crossings (in fact in some places the crossing is now unavailable altogether because of the works and no safe alternative has been put in place, which has doubtless contributed to the three pedestrians injured in accidents inside a couple of weeks in and around Princes Street) and a fortune spent ripping up pavements we paid to have widen just a few years ago, now all being narrowed again, cycle lanes lost, listed buildings demolished and now an official letter replying to a disabled lady with MS tells her the disabled probably should go to an out of town shopping centre rather than Princes Street for the next few years while the works go on:

"I would not recommend visiting the city centre while the tram works are being carried out and would suggest instead that you continue to visit the Gyle Shopping Centre as it has dedicated parking for Blue Badge holders and an in situ Lothian Shopmobility service" (via the Evening news)

All this despite the fact the incompetents at the tram company (a council arms-length company) and the council insist that everything in the city is open for business as usual during the years of the expensive white elephant that is the tram, yet here they are telling folks not to come in (many already aren't, even before the credit crunch bit numbers taking the bus into the city centre were way down as folks avoid it because of the endless delays). These idiots are all being paid out of the public purse...

If we were going to have a decent new transport system out of it at the end of it all perhaps it might be worth it, but its just one near useless line - it goes nowhere near where the vast majority of Edinburgh residents live so it will be no use to them. I live fairly centrally and it will still be useless to me when finished, I (and 4/5 of the rest of the city) will still rely on the bus. And the bus will continue to be held up even after the tram works are finished because they will get right of way at junctions... They will also get in the way of cycles (especially in parts where cycle lanes are being lost), passengers embarking and disembarking will get in the way of other traffic and pedestrians and what happens when one breaks down? Years back we had a referendum on congestion charging, but for this trams we had it shoved down our throat and were never given the option of voting yay or nay, presumably because the council were worried that once again we would refuse to endorse their stupid, ill thought out plans. Meantime the same authorities won't even take the most basic steps to help keep traffic going through the works (despite saying they were doing everything, of course) - the green lanes aren't even being patrolled by wardens so lazy shopkeepers and customers are daily parking in them to go in and out of the shops and not bothering that they are making the long lines even worse (this is happening even right round the corner from police stations... sigh).

Please use an alternate route

Even more bloody roadworks announced in Edinburgh. Major disruption, we're sorry for inconvenience, please plan to use an alternative route, the usual platitudes as if the utility companies give a monkeys, really. Well I would use an alternate route except I can't because you twats have ripped it for the bloody useless tramline you are forcing on the city which will be no use to most of the residents. And how nice of the tram bastards to rip up two huge junctions on the busiest bus routes at the same time to make things even better and then the utility companies ripping up one of the main alternate city routes while that's going on, what great timing. And to garnish this mess on the way home tonight I saw them ripping up the junction near my home and putting in temporary lights. The same junction spot that's been ripped up four times in the last year. Useless, sodding, incompetent eejits.

Very silly people

It seems to be the week for seeing very, very stupid people on the road. Van driver gets fed up with the road works holding everything up (Edinburgh is grinding to a halt with roadworks), pulls out and drives past 3 double decker buses on the wrong side of the road to reach the next turn, narrowly missing the oncoming traffic he couldn't see before pulling out. Another van driver driving without actually using either of his hands as he needed both of them for the more important purpose of lighting his fag as he sailed through a junction (and since the an was a works van he shouldn't be smoking in it anyway). But the winner of the stupidest person who was happy to endanger someone else goes to the young woman who cycled past me with a toddler, no more than 3 or 4 years old, perched precariously on the saddle of the bicycle. And no, I don't mean on one of those little dinky kid seats some cyclists strap to the back of their bikes, this little toddler was left on an adult saddle holding on to the back of the woman as she stood on the pedals to cycle through busy rush hour traffic. One little bump and the kid is on the road and under the wheels of a bus before she would even notice. If a very stupid person wants to risk their own lives its one thing, but they don't seem to care that they risk other folk's safety.

Lack of information

Road work signs have sprung up on the main road near me in the last week announcing that a chunk of this very busy road would be closed from Monday for quite some time for major repairs. Since this is one of the main routes for this side of the city I assumed this could have a major effect on the bus service. The sort of major effect that would mean the local bus company would put up some information on the affected stop to say, sorry, you can't get a bus from here, you must head over several streets to this point to meet the diverted services. You'd think that. But not, Lothian Regional Transport never bothered their arse and even this morning there were folk standing at stops where no bus was going to come, not a single sign to be seen to tell them there was no service. If you went to their website then dug around in the news section you can find out this information; fine for me, but I am guessing not every single passenger who uses this busy route was able to do this, or even knew to do it - and they shouldn't have to since it should be posted on the bus stops taken out of service during the work. Piss poor customer care.